Teen Who Killed Brother Inspired by TV Murderer

RISING SUN, Ind. - A 17-year-old accused of killing his 10-year-old brother told prosecutors he had fantasized since the eighth grade about beating someone to death and modeled himself after a television serial killer, Ohio County prosecutors said.

Andrew Conley told investigators he spent 20 minutes choking his brother, Conner, after they wrestled and had also planned to kill his father.

Negangard, prosecutor for Dearborn and Ohio counties, said Thursday that charges against Andrew Conley were upgraded to murder and that he will be tried as an adult. He is not eligible for the death penalty because of his age but could be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

During one conversation with police, he was asked why he killed Conner.

"Like I had to ½lcub¾hellip½rcub¾ like when people have something like they are hungry and there is a hamburger sitting there and they knew they had to have it and I was sitting there and it just happened."

During the same interview, Andrew told police he watched the Showtime television show "Dexter," about a serial killer.

"I just feel like him," Andrew said of the character.

Details of the case chilled even veteran law enforcement officials in southeast Indiana.

"He spoke with no emotion, no remorse, in describing the death of his brother,"

Negangard said of Andrew Conley. "This was a deliberate murder."

With both of their parents at work Saturday night, the boys were alone in their rural Ohio County home. Andrew Conley put his younger brother in a headlock, causing Conner to lose consciousness. He told police that Conner's last words were, "Andrew, stop."

Then Andrew dragged his brother, barely breathing, into the kitchen, retrieved a pair of gloves from the living room and returned to choke him with both hands - for about 20 minutes - until the boy bled from the mouth and nose.

Andrew took a plastic bag from a kitchen drawer, put it over Conner's head and secured it with black electrical tape at the neck. He dragged his brother's body by the feet down the basement steps and outside to his car. Before Andrew put his brother's body in the trunk, he struck Conner's head against the ground several times, he told police.

In early interviews with police, according to court documents, Andrew said he then drove to Rising Sun City Park, near the elementary school where Conner was in the fifth grade, and dumped the body in a wooded area, slightly concealing it with vegetation. The body was found Sunday night.

Andrew Conley told police Tuesday he made one stop before dumping Conner's body. After changing his clothes, because Conner's blood was on his gray sweat shirt, Andrew said he drove to the home of his girlfriend, staying a few hours, and unexpectedly gave her what police described as a "sweetheart ring." The girl told police that, during their visit, Andrew seemed happier than she had seen him in awhile.

Andrew left his girlfriend's house at around 11 p.m. Saturday and drove to the park.

The boys' parents, Shawn and Bridget Conley, work at night, Andrew told police. His father came home around 3 a.m. Sunday, and his mother three hours later. He told them later that Conner was at his grandmother's house in Rising Sun, a common arrangement.

Andrew told police that he planned to kill his father, too. Twice in the midmorning hours Sunday, Andrew said he walked into his father's bedroom with a knife but found him asleep. On Thursday, police said Shawn Conley woke up once and found Andrew standing over him with a knife but that Andrew left the room. Shawn Conley was startled, police said, but said Andrew's behavior that morning was consistent with his conduct in recent weeks.

The family had withdrawn Andrew two weeks earlier from Rising Sun High School because he had cut his arms.

Later Sunday, Andrew told police that he drove into Rising Sun and met with two friends and told them that he had killed Conner.

The court filing does not list an exact timeline but does read that "Andrew Conley walked into the Rising Sun Police Department and reported that he had killed his little brother."